Marge Champion

Marjorie Celeste "Marge" Champion (née Belcher; September 2, 1919 – October 21, 2020) was an American dancer, choreographer, and actress. She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography in 1975.

Marge Champion
Marge in 1952
Born	Marjorie Celeste Belcher (1919-09-02)September 2, 1919 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	October 21, 2020(2020-10-21) (aged 101) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Dancer, choreographer, actress
Years active	1930s–2020
Spouse(s)	Art Babbitt (1937–40) Gower Champion (1947–73) Boris Sagal (1977–81)
Children	Blake Gregg
Relatives	Lina Basquette (half-sister)

Career

At a young age she was hired as a dance model for Walt Disney Studios animated movies. Snow White was modeled after Champion for the 1937 animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Later she performed as an actress and dancer in movie musicals, and in 1957 had a TV show based on song and dance.^[1]

Champion has also done creative choreography for liturgy, and served as a dialogue and movement coach for the 1978 TV miniseries, The Awakening Land, set in the late 18th century in the Ohio Valley.^[2]

Together as a dance team, the Champions performed in MGM musicals of the 1940s and 50s, including Show Boat (1951) and Everything I Have Is Yours (1952). MGM wanted the couple to remake Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies, but only one, Lovely to Look At (1952), a remake of Roberta (1935), was completed.

Death

Champion turned 100 in September 2019.^[3] She died on October 21, 2020 in Los Angeles at the age of 101.^[4]